News Corner October 16, 2013

Two key Federal Communications Commission (FCC) changes to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), designed to add protection on unwanted autodialed and robocalls, become effective today (Response This Week, Sept. 11 and Oct. 9). The two key changes include: unambiguous written consent is required before a telemarketing call or text message (calls that are manually dialed and do not contain a pre-recorded message are exempt from the TCPA); and an established business relationship no longer relieves advertisers of prior unambiguous written consent requirement. Penalties for violations range from $500 to $1,500 per unsolicited call or message.

KPI Direct is part of this year’s Inc. 500|5000 list of the fastest growing private companies in the United States.

Newgistics, a provider of E-commerce solutions and services, announces it is opening three facilities in Kentucky, California and Illinois. The move is expected to create hundreds of new jobs and allow the company to offer competitive costs and faster, more efficient shipping services coast-to-coast.

Global Infomercial Services Inc., a full-service international direct-response television distributor, announces it has been re-branded to Oak Lawn Marketing International Inc., a subsidiary of Oak Lawn Marketing Inc. based in Nagoya, Japan. “We are the same great company and by adopting the already well-established brand of our parent company, it allows us to truly enrich lifestyles at an international level,” says Oak Lawn Marketing Intl. President Scott F. Reid.

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) announces the members of its 2013-14 Board of Directors: JoAnne Dunn, president and CEO, Alliant, is DMA Chair of the Board; the vice-chair is Arjan Dijk, vice president of marketing at Google Inc.; the treasurer is Rick Erwin, president of the data division at Experian; the secretary is Dawn Zier, president and CEO at Nutrisystem. New members of the board include: Mark Allen, president of Service Master Gift Card; Luke Gebb, senior vice president at American Express; and Seth Radwell, president and CEO at Guthy-Renker.

Media researcher Kantar Media launches a new TV audience measure service that will combine key consumer-purchasing behavior by integrating purchase and demographic data from third parties. The service, called Audience Advisor, allows for advanced audience segmentation based on household-level attributes, demographics and purchase behavior.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) is calling for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to probe marketers' ability to track consumers when they access the Web from different computers or platforms. In the past, ad companies typically could track users on a single device, but didn't usually tie together information collected across more than one device. Now, some companies appear able to track and target people across a variety of devices and platforms.

IBM acquires Xtify, a provider of mobile commerce solutions that allows targeted and location-based notifications and real-time measurement. The acquisition enhances the mobile component of Smarter Commerce, especially important for IBM given the technology giant's own predictions around growth in mobile commerce.

A federal judge dismisses a class-action lawsuit accusing Google, Vibrant Media and WPP's Media Innovation Group of violating Safari users' privacy settings. The lawsuit stems from a report last year by Stanford grad student Jonathan Mayer, who said the four companies were circumventing Safari's no-tracking settings.

A recent Nielsen survey finds that 50 percent of U.S. citizens who own smartphones are age 55 and older.

The popular photo-sharing app Instagram will begin selling and running ads later this year as it seeks to build a sustainable business. The company says U.S. users will begin seeing "an occasional ad" in their Instagram feeds from brands they don't necessarily follow through the service – and assured it would move slowly in introducing advertising.

Facebook has acquired Onavo, an Israeli company that helps developers and users make more efficient use of data bandwidth in apps. The acquisition also establishes a Facebook office in Tel Aviv.